I have a 4 month old Buck that is a cute little guy. however, I've heard horror stories about when they grow up. Do they stink? spray urine on themselves? become aggressive? I want to get a female once he's old enough and breed them. sell the kids and milk the doe. and then just keep the two. maybe breed them once a year. On the other hand i want to wether him so he will not become a stinky shithead. also could i breed him then wether him? what should i do.
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I usually have gardening or other work gloves on while I'm doing barn chores, so I just give the boys a scratch on the shoulders and back to keep them happy. And I wash the gloves A LOT.
After I posted that, it occurred to me that you should also have an "apron" of heavy fabric to wrap around you when you brush him. That might be over-caution, but we all know that smell is *not* Chanel No. 5.
Can you brush them then? I use a scrub brush on my girls. I chose that because the bristles "mold" to them as a curry comb will not. Curry combs/brushes work well for horses with all that "fat" but our girls just don't have that on their backs. I'm thinking with your boys, if you were to use a brush (and wearing a glove), that they can have their attention and you not get stinky.
Myra Isaac said:
They're definitely stinky during rut !! I won't pet them then and sometimes I feel kind of bad because I can tell that they would like some attention! :( poor boys!
I love my smelly boys, but yes, they do reek and get covered with sticky half-dried pee. They are sweet as pie to me, but mainly because I have three bucks, so they can roughhouse with one another all day long (and they do). They make astonishing noises, and they will pee on people they like if the people stand too close for too long. Ask me how I know.
I sorry to say that bucks do grow up to be stinky and pee on themselves. Actually they pee on their faces -- yeah, that takes talent! Nigerian bucks, however, are not the obnoxious jerks that bigger bucks are. Most people say their bucks are super sweet and that it's sad that they stink because they want to be affectionate. You can use him for breeding and then wether him. We used to have a la mancha buck, and he caused a ton of trouble for us, so we wethered him when he was three years old. He quit stinking about a month later, but he remained a trouble-making jerk forever. I have never had any trouble with my ND bucks though. The worst thing they do is try to rub their stinky heads on my leg. Although I did have a buck who was a bottle baby who wanted to kiss me all the time -- on my face! Yes, that was disgusting and is one of the reasons I don't like bottlefed bucks.